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Police: Drug dealer with loaded gun arrested after struggle on Boylston Street in the Back Bay

Boston Police report arresting a man after they say officers watched him sell some crack on Boylston Street at Gloucester Street around 8 p.m. on Friday.

Police say drug-unit officers conducting an undercover operation, watched Rashjeem Benson, 36, sell the drugs to somebody and moved in to arrest him, only he did not go willingly:

After observing the transaction, officers approached Benson and, after identifying themselves as Boston Police Officers, asked if he was dealing illegal drugs. Benson immediately became uncooperative and refused to comply with the officer’s commands to place his hands behind his back. After a lengthy struggle, officers were able to handcuff and subdue Benson. A search revealed a loaded .44 caliber revolver that was later determined stolen out of Nashua, New Hampshire on March 11, 2019.

Benson was charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, unlawful possession of ammunition, distribution of crack, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon on a police officer, resisting arrest and receiving stolen property, police say.

In 2012, WBUR interviewed Benson after he was released from a nearly four-year term for drug dealing. At the time, Benson, married with two children and attending Mass. Bay Community College, talked of how he had turned his life away from what he said was an addiction to the money he made selling drugs.

Innocent, etc.

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Comments

Much appreciated for getting this guy and his gun off the street. I also hope you can trace the gun.

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Already did. Stolen from a house break-in in New Hampshire. Drug addicts rob houses and fence stolen guns to dealers all the time. Same for cars, phones, and even license plates. Second homes & cabins in upstate VT, NH, and ME are targeted all the time. People leave all sorts of stuff in their second homes, including cars, unattended for weeks on end. Burglars are often long gone by the time the owners realize their second home has been picked clean.

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By 'hope we can trace the gun', I guess I was thinking it would be great to arrest the burgler, the fence, and the local gun dealer. In other words, how did these particular idiotscome to have that gun?

A street thief can be random. Anyone feeling bored and needing drugs or money. But I imagine the fence and gun dealer are more likely at this game day-in and day-out. Would be nice to trace things to them.

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